Cumulus conference Bengaluru 2017 – Letters to the Future

Letters to the Future
Anxiety, emergency and fear seem to be the driving forces of our time. Perhaps the changes around us are too rapid; the issues that envelope us are too vitiated to permit contemplation. To endow the passing moment with vividness and delight seems impossible. How do we as artists and designers address these issues? How do we absorb the present, foresee the future, force the navigation, order the sequence, replace the predictable and drive the imagination?

AFFORDAbsorbing Imagination for the futureForeseeing order of AbundanceForcing Resurgence of matterOrdering possibilities of the ImpossibleReplacing ApprehensionDriving Ambition

A Letter for Imagination and Abundance
We can afford to do it. Yes, it is possible. I felt it in the middle of night when I woke up for a glass of water. I was in for a treat when I saw myself in the middle of a procession. It was colorful and was full of vigor, too noisy for my taste, but it certainly had the flare of all that I wanted to see and hear. It was a long list of obsessions I saw that made me feel this way, made me feel at home, made me feel that I can afford to dream.

Notes: Text deals with anxiety around the argument related to sustainability, end of the world. It propagates the power of imagination and assures the protagonist a sense of abundance.

A Letter for Resurgence and Impossible
I hit the road during the wee hours thinking that there will be less traffic. It is not surprising to note that that we all think alike. We actually create a mess by taking an odd chance. Cut to present. Kids start fighting in the back of the car. Peaceful morning mind goes into a trauma. Some things are simply not practical. A series of roadside sellers consume my time. Traffic update on the radio says that I am stuck forever. The faint sound of an ambulance siren adds to the chaos. Sudden silence. I wonder. Kids start seeing the resemblance of a fictional character in the fleeting silhouette of trees against the early morning sky. I zoom past the trees, one by one. I am heading towards a morning of the future where the sun rises in the middle of the night. How is that possible? I still wonder over this as I drive past the colorful array of lights. I feel I can afford to enjoy my drive.

Notes: Text deal with emergency around the argument related to speed. It propagates the power of resurgence and assures the protagonist the sense of impossible possibility.

A Letter for Apprehension (PM) and Ambition (AM),
Dear mate
I feel I finally resolved it. Now I know that it was not you, but me who boiled it over and over. As always, you win the argument. Believe me, it is not in my physique but it is in my mind that I had to let go. It is hard but I can do it, anyway I could not prolong. I just have to convince my mind to let go. The conversation was this.

AM: Now I know, it’s a set of moves that I can make and win.PM: Not at all, it is me that you know; we played this game too often and you can’t guess
anymore.AM: It is possible to make it look impossible and we both know the trick.PM: It is just a matter of your notion of who I am while the reality is different.AM: Did you say reality? You lost the argument before the move.PM: You can’t afford to win a game in an argument before the game.AM: Who said that I wanted to win the game? I just wanted to win the argument and that was the game. The rule said that I could afford to do that and you know that the game began long ago.

Notse: Text deals with fear and phobia around the argument related to wellbeing. It propagates the power of ambition and assures the protagonist the sense of (overcoming?) the apprehension that the protagonist realizes is one’s own construct.

The three letters are around body, mind and matter

TRACKS FOR PAPERS:

A Letter for Imagination and Abundance
I can afford to dream.
Papers should explore the themes of the power of imagination and sense ofabundance as opposed to anxiety around the argument pertaining to sustainability and/or adversely proposed future scenarios.

A Letter for Resurgence and Impossible,
I feel I can afford to relax.
Papers can explore/explain/discuss the power of resurgence, assuring a sense of impossible possibilities, as opposed to emergencies around the argument related to speed.

A Letter for Apprehension and Ambition,
I feel I can afford to play.
Papers can deal with the power of ambition, the sense of winning over apprehension as opposed to fear and phobia around the argument related to wellbeing.